The Dynamics of Collaborative Emergency Capability: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis Based on Contingency Plans
Abstract
The complex situations and chain effects of urban risk factors have resulted in a focus on improving emergency capability based on the importance of the collaborative governance network. This study constructed an integrated analysis framework to adapt to China’s emergency governance situation. This study aimed to contribute to the literature on collaborative emergency governance based on the framework of target capability by exploring the combination of risk warning, organization embedding, information sharing, resource integration, and business function as major influencing factors in the capability of collaborative emergency governance. Through a qualitative comparative analysis based on 50 contingency plans in Shanghai, China, and followup interviews, the study explored the multistructure equivalent causality and equivalent cause-and-effect chain in detail. The findings reveal three configuration paths for the generation of collaborative emergency capability: business-chain resource optimization, precontrol embedded system overlay, and balanced organizational embedding types. This research provides a theoretical reference and practical understanding of using “different routes to the same goal” in urban collaborative emergency governance.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. This includes the recoded data and truth tables based on the fire types.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 72134005, 71974128, and 72274123) and the Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. 19JZD022).
References
Andreassen, N., O. J. Borch, and A. K. Sydnes. 2020. “Information sharing and emergency response coordination.” Saf. Sci. 130 (Oct ): 104895. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2020.104895.
Berlin, J. M., and E. D. Carlström. 2015. “Collaboration exercises: What do they contribute?” J. Contingencies Crisis Manage. 23 (1): 11–23. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.12064.
Boin, A., M. Busuioc, and M. Groenleer. 2014. “Building European Union capacity to manage transboundary crises: Network or lead-agency model.” Regul. Governance 8 (4): 418–436. https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12035.
Comfort, L. K., W. L. Waugh, and B. A. Cigler. 2016. “Emergency management research and practice in public administration: Emergence, evolution, expansion, and future directions.” Public Admin. Rev. 72 (4): 539–547. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2012.02549.x.
Dawes, S. S., M. A. Gharawi, and G. B. Burke. 2012. “Transnational public sector knowledge networks: Knowledge and information sharing in a multi-dimensional context.” Gov. Inf. Q. 29 (1): S112–S120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2011.08.002.
Doberstein, C. 2016. “Designing collaborative governance decision making in search of a collaborative advantage.” Public Manage. Rev. 24 (6): 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2015.1045019.
Fan, B., and S. Nie. 2018. “Co-production design of contingency planning in emergency governance structure: Qualitative meta-synthesis of Chinese local government.” Nat. Hazard. Rev. 19 (4): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000311.
FEMA. 2011. “FEMA: National preparedness goal.” Accessed September 23, 2011. http://www.fema.gov/pdf/prepared/npg.pdf.
Fiss, P. C. 2011. “Building better causal theories: A fuzzy set approach to typologies in organization research.” Acad. Manage. J. 54 (2): 393–420. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMJ.2011. 60263120.
General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, Standardization Administration of the People’s Republic of China. 2008. Classification of fires. GB/T 4968-2008. Beijing: China Statistics Press.
Helmrich, A., M. Markolf, R. Li, T. Carvalhaes, Y. Kim, E. Bondank, M. Natarajan, N. Ahmad, and M. Chester. 2021. “Centralization and decentralization for resilient infrastructure and complexity.” Environ. Res.: Infrastruct. Sustainability 1 (2): 021001. https://doi.org/10.1088/2634-4505/ac0a4f.
Herovic, E., T. L. Sellnow, and D. D. Sellnow. 2020. “Challenges and opportunities for pre-crisis emergency risk communication: Lessons learned from the earthquake community.” J. Risk Res. 23 (3): 349–364. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2019.1569097.
Huang, X., and X. Li. 2020. “Key factors and coupling relationships of collaborative governance for disaster prevention in China’s coastal cities.” Risk Anal. 41 (6): 895–910. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13586.
Jung, K., and M. Song. 2018. “The dynamics of an inter-organizational emergency management network: Interdependent and independent risk hypotheses.” Public Admin. Rev. 79 (2): 225–235. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12993.
Kapucu, N., and V. Garayev. 2013. “Designing, managing, and sustaining functionally collaborative emergency management networks.” Am. Rev. Public Admin. 43 (3): 312–330. https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074012444719.
Kapucu, N., and Q. Hu. 2016. “Understanding multiplexity of collaborative emergency management networks.” Am. Rev. Public Admin. 46 (4): 399–417. https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074014555645.
Lavee, E., N. Cohen, and H. Nouman. 2018. “Reinforcing public responsibility? Influences and practices in street-level bureaucrats’ engagement in policy design.” Public Admin. 96 (2): 333–348. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12402.
Markolf, S. A., A. Helmrich, Y. Kim, R. Hoff, and M. Chester. 2022. “Balancing efficiency and resilience objectives in pursuit of sustainable infrastructure transformations.” Curr. Opin. Environ. Sustainability 56 (Jun): 101181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2022.101181.
Martin, E., I. Nolte, and E. Vitolo. 2016. “The four Cs of disaster partnering: Communication, cooperation, coordination and collaboration.” Disasters 40 (4): 621–643. https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12173.
Mizrahi, S., E. Vigoda-Gadot, and N. Cohen. 2019. “Drivers of trust in emergency organizations networks: The role of readiness, threat perceptions and participation in decision making.” Public Manage. Rev. 21 (5): 917–935. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2019.1674367.
National Bureau of Statistics. 2008. China statistical yearbook. Beijing: China Statistics Press.
Nisar, M. A., and S. Maroulis. 2017. “Foundations of relating: Theory and evidence on the formation of street-level bureaucrats’ workplace networks.” Public Admin. Rev. 77 (6): 829–839. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12719.
Nohrstedt, D. 2015. “Does adaptive capacity influence service delivery? Evidence from Swedish emergency management collaborations.” Public Manage. Rev. 17 (5): 718–735. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2013.848921.
Oh, N., A. Okada, and L. K. Comfort. 2014. “Building collaborative emergency management systems in Northeast Asia: A comparative analysis of the roles of international agencies.” J. Comp. Policy Anal. 16 (1): 94–111. https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2013.863639.
Pathak, A., L. Zhang, and N. E. Ganapati. 2020. “Understanding multi-sector stakeholder value dynamics in Hurricane Michael: Toward collaborative decision-making in disaster contexts.” Nat. Hazard. Rev. 21 (3): 610–626. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000400.
Pescaroli, G., and D. Alexander. 2018. “Understanding compound, interconnected, interacting, and cascading risks: A holistic framework.” Risk Anal. 38 (11): 2245–2257. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13128.
Petersen, N. B. 2020. “Whoever has will be given more: The effect of performance information on frontline employees’ support for managerial policy initiatives.” J. Public Admin. Res. Theory 30 (4): 533–547. https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muaa008.
Provan, K. G., and R. H. Lemaire. 2012. “Core concepts and key ideas for understanding public sector organizational networks: Using research to inform scholarship and practice.” Public Admin. Rev. 72 (5): 638–648. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2012.02595.x.
Ragin, C., and D. Sean. 2016. Fuzzy-set/qualitative comparative analysis 3.0. Irvine, CA: Univ. of California.
Robinson, S. E., J. M. Pudlo, and W. Wehde. 2019. “The new ecology of tornado warning information: A natural experiment assessing threat intensity and citizen-to-citizen information sharing.” Public Manage. Rev. 79 (6): 905–916. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13030.
Roud, E., A. H. Gausdal, A. Asgary, and E. Carlström. 2021. “Outcome of collaborative emergency exercises: Differences between full-scale and tabletop exercises.” J. Contingencies Crisis Manag. 29 (2): 170–184. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.12339.
Roud, E. K. P., and A. H. Gausdal. 2019. “Trust and emergency management: Experiences from the Arctic Sea region.” J. Trust Res. 9 (2): 203–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/21515581.2019.1649153.
Sommer, M., O. Njå, and K. Lussand. 2017. “Police officers’ learning in relation to emergency management: A case study.” Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduct. 21 (Mar): 70–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2016.11.003.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Natural Hazards Review
Volume 24 • Issue 2 • May 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 18, 2022
Accepted: Jan 10, 2023
Published online: Feb 28, 2023
Published in print: May 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Jul 28, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Analysis (by type)
- Business management
- Comparative studies
- Disaster preparedness
- Disaster risk management
- Dynamic analysis
- Emergency management
- Engineering fundamentals
- Management methods
- Methodology (by type)
- Network analysis
- Organizations
- Practice and Profession
- Quality control
- Quantitative analysis
- Research methods (by type)
- Risk management
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.